Solicitor Negligence

A legal professional, whether a Solicitor, Barrister, or Chartered Legal Executive, owes a duty of care to their client.

That duty is to act with reasonable care and skill and in accordance with the professional standards expected of them.

If a legal professional falls below these standards, and their client suffers loss or damage as a result, then the professional has been negligent.

Solicitor Negligence, Barrister negligence or negligence by another legal expert can be particularly damaging to those who entrusted in them.

Some common legal areas where negligence occurs include:

• Business solicitors
• Employment law
• Family law
• Medical negligence
• Property/conveyancing
• Wills & probate
• No win, no fee

Common examples of legal negligence

Although there are many situations where a legal professional may have acted negligently, some of the more common errors include:

• Causing a claim to be struck out of court;
• Failing to put all relevant evidence before the Court;
• Missing the limitation date for a claim;
• Sub-standard drafting of a contract or other document;
• Under-settling a personal injury or medical negligence claim;
• Negligently drafted wills
• Conveyancing professional negligence;
• Failing to identify conveyancing Fraud;
• Providing incorrect legal advice

If you have received advice from a legal professional that has caused you a loss, or your claim has been mishandled or the professional did not carry out your instructions, then you may have a claim.

As with all professional negligence claims, you will need to prove that the legal professional breached their duty of care and that this has caused you a loss.

Claims Struck Out

A client can expect their solicitor to act with reasonable competence in the conduct of litigation.

Solicitors should have a reasonable familiarity with the procedures of the courts and act in a fashion that protects their client’s position.

Litigation is a difficult procedural undertaking and is rife with potential pitfalls for even the most experienced litigators; it is an unfortunate fact that mistakes often happen.

Mistakes can happen both before and after a claim is issued in court. These could include:

• Failure to prepare compliant statements of case
• Failure to issue court proceedings in time
• Failure to meet specific deadlines
• Failure to pay court fees
• Failure to comply generally with court directions

There are countless opportunities for mistakes and such mistakes can seriously threaten the viability of a claim. In some circumstances, the court will make the decision to strike out the claim in its entirety.

If a claimant’s case is struck out, they will no longer be able to pursue their cause of action and they will lose the opportunity to a remedy such as compensation.

If a solicitor’s mistake is the cause of the strike out, this will almost certainly give rise to a claim for professional negligence.

The client will be able to bring a claim against the solicitor for the lost opportunity of being awarded a remedy in their original claim.

Time Limits

There are strict time limits to bring a claim for professional negligence against a legal professional. That time limit is normally 6 years from the date of the negligence.

In some cases, if you do not find out about the negligence, or the damage that it has caused until a later date, you may still be able to bring a claim.

This means that if you believe that your legal professional has been negligent you should not delay in making an enquiry of our expert team, who will be able to advise you on all aspects of your claim.

Funding

Once we have assessed your claim, we can offer a number of funding options. We often accept claims on a no win, no fee basis, where you only pay our costs if we win and which you can read more about on our funding page. We can also offer discounted fees and other funding methods where appropriate.

If we have to issue proceedings, we can also advise on minimising your risk by obtaining an appropriate insurance product to protect you from adverse costs awards.

Whether you are an individual or a business, Specters’ expert team has over 25 years’ experience in resolving professional negligence disputes. We believe in resolving disputes without the need for lengthy and expensive court proceedings and we will help you devise the right solution to your problem.

At Specters, we can assist you in pursuing compensation from your solicitor, barrister, licensed conveyancer or another legal representative for any financial loss incurred. Thinking of suing a solicitor? Have you been affected by an under-settlement of personal injury claim? If you believe a legal professional has acted negligently, send us an enquiry today.